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shopcat · 15 days

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would LOVE to hear your thoughts on a ty lee x suki situation !!

HEHE ohhhh you. okay. WELL i think they would be really cute together to be honest. their dynamic has a lot of really interesting facets to it to me!!

to me, suki seems to be... not necessarily a Control Freak, but someone who knows pretty quickly exactly what she wants to do, how to do it and what is the efficient way to do so. she has a very analytical and tactical way of thinking, as well as being very team-oriented, which makes sense obviously, but gives the impression to me that she has a lot of pride and security IN knowing what to do, and doesn't like not having this control. she tends to do what she think is best in a situation and take the lead, like at the boiling rock for example. (this is also why i think she gets along with sokka so well imo as the Controller of all the control freaks that he is).

ty lee, at least at one point, represented a very literal manifestation of someone who could take away this control VERY easily. iirc suki even particularly notes/is aware of ty lee's specific threat and takes a lot of care in avoiding her, which beyond the normal like battle acumen of being aware of your enemy's strengths, indicates chi blocking in particular is something she's genuinely afraid of at least imo. this makes a lot of sense to me with what i've already established as a part of suki's character, and is also Very Interesting considering. suki has always been a very confident and resilient character, and something to shake that confidence in a believable way is always interesting to see, even if it's the very literal confidence-shaking of what having a crush is like.

i think it's a very funny thing where, for plot reasons alone, ty lee met the kyoshi warriors minus suki, and taught them chi blocking, purely because suki just wasn't there and didn't get the chance. additionally thinking of the dynamic at play at least initially of suki being separated from her group for this length of time time who have now since reunited with her after absorbing this other, new member, who was previously a threat that suki is WELL aware of the scope of, but one that is also trying to do her best and make amends (which is, we know, also a weakness of suki's in particular, even if sokka's situation was on a... less dramatic scale. lol), and the tensions of that may rise from there...

and like. well. c'mon. PRIVATE LESSONS involving touching the other person's body + the added tension of suki's potential insecurities regarding this... c'mon.

i also think it's really fun that they're pretty much always presented as a pair (which i know is just because ty lee is like, the only established and known other character in the group, but. gift horse, etc). plus, i have always enjoyed the dynamic of leader + second in command and the complexities of trust/duty/devotion that exist there... idet the kyoshi warriors have an established hierarchy like this but honestly being second-in-command in everything but name is even better. they're always front and centre!!

staying up on GUARD DUTY together... !!!

i think ty lee is one of the most interesting female characters from the fire nation full stop and it drives me CRAZY the way people almost... sand her down, i guess? they sort of tend to fall for the bubbly, perky loosey-goosey positive Ty Lee of it all and forget to incorporate how she's a master martial artist and seemingly the only person on fucking earth who knows how to chi block people, something she also, you can assume, taught herself, as well as being emotionally, politically and tactically brilliant and incredibly combat-able and competant otherwise. beyond the obviously ripe two-nonbenders-in-a-bending-world of it all, i think suki would of all people be able to admire these traits as something she can relate to and more than anything be able see ty lee as the complex and multifaceted individual she is, which is obviously something that would be super signficiant and touching for ty lee.

it's also kind of like, wild that people DO seem to forget this, as well, or they just don't think about it too deeply i guess, because to me while i don't think ty lee is in any way like, excessively inauthentic i do think the combination of being one of azula's only, trusted friends and the political landscape she grew up in as a child of a noble herself results in a character who very much so knows what she's fucking doing. i think she happily takes advantage of the way people perceive her as a pretty obvious bait-and-switch situation where they underestimate her and then she brutally and efficiently takes them down, something which those who do know her are both aware of but somehow fall for at the same time. while i don't think ty lee is MANIPULATIVE, or even malicious at all in that regard, i do think she's very keen in this way and i for one don't underestimate that.

(something that comes to mind is the whole bit where azula was trying to recruit her and the like, "the universe is giving me some pretty big signs [to join you]" thing. i think the perception that she says this because she truly believes a net being set on fire is some sort of mystical sign from the universe is... truthfully insane to just believe w/no second thought, personally, when it's pretty clear to me she's recognising that she needs to do this in order to keep herself and her newfound livelihood let's say... in line, and is able to fall back on that predisposed perception of her in a way that doesn't raise azula's (master manipulator that SHE IS) guard like, at all, which is very impressive imo. while i do think she is her very authentic, true to life self, i think she also uses this as a sort of mask between both her and the real world, and possibly her and her real feelings on things. i think this is why she's so offended when people regard her as airheaded, bc everything she does is planned out, even down to having a boy use his own body to block the sun from her eyes. and, like with when she chose mai, when she knows what she needs to do she just... does it!)

going off of that, i think the assumption that ty lee is just a naturally gifted acrobat is also incredibly insane to me. we already know that re: her sisters, ty lee herself choose acrobatics as a hobby to create a sense of individualism, also creating a unique nightmare where her acrobatics ability is tied up into her sense of self, her quote unquote usefulness to azula and in part the FN itself, and also at one point is her only way to protect herself. i think the skills she has are very obviously something she trained hard for for a long time, and the abilities she possesses seem to be an entirely unique to her way of fighting along with incorporating something that is, again, genuinely very scary to a lot of people, and the idea that it all is just something that comes naturally to her is like, kind of insulting...? we literally see her CONSTANTLY stretching, too.

i think suki OF ALL PEOPLE can definitely admire and relate to this, as someone who follows a strict traditional style of martial arts that she trains probably every day and has a lot of personal pride in. (as well as, pretty obviously, them both being proficient in nonbender combat that highlights unique abilities, i.e. fan VS chi blocking). who are they, both of them, beyond being a warrior? i also well highly doubt the environment ty lee grew up in both allowed mistakes or lack of dedication, and didn't exactly foster being something of a team player, which is something that could create some Potential Conflicts as she's settling (i think there's even a bit in the more recent comics where azula says ty lee's uniform is slowing her down, and i KNOW that would frustrate the hell out of her, really)... the strange loyalty of azula, mai and ty lee, who existed as a group but not, princess and her weapons, childhood friends who weren't allowed to actually be friends, three individuals together with their own distinct traits but not actually Together, until ty lee chose mai, are... not exactly the tight knit group and well-oiled machine that are the kyoshi warriors, despite appearances. what ultimately leads to azula's breakdown was the hollow facade of it all. :(

suki's distinctive position as the capital L leader of a class of highly trained warriors is also really interesting to me for a lot of reasons, specifically to do with how i think she views herself, as both part of the group and separate from it entirely, and the unique way that she seems to me at least to actually be a very self-reliant person despite of course loving her girls and relying heavily on them. it's just an compelling character juxtaposition is all... i think ty lee is also, in a way, like this, if only as someone who could never truly "rely" on azula, and, up until she knew she could, even mai. on a lighter and related note, ty lee definitely has been Known to crush on people who boss her around LMFAO, and i also think it's very funny that they both at one point had a crush on sokka 😭.

LASTLY, ty lee's reluctance to be part of a matched set and then... joining a group of people who are a matched set is something i think about all the time, esp bc i know in the comics she LEAVES the group and then later comes back (which suki is very happy about... heh...). i know a lot of people think it's like, lazy writing, but i think it's ultimately very sweet that ty lee seemingly is working towards overcoming her insecurities regarding falling into the crowd, especially because of the way the kyoshi warriors seem to rely ON their uniform and inability to tell them apart in the heat of battle to their advantage. much like the way ty lee would use the way others perceive her, may i add. i think her working through this could also add another layer to their relationship, as well as the old "i'd know you even if your identity WAS obscured" trope.

anyways. basically i think they could work really well together. for some more like dot point reasons, i like the bubbly exuberant x levelheaded analytical dynamic as well as the subverted expectation that suki is the quote unquote more dangerous one when ty lee is the actual guard dog, and how they both share those traits when necessary. also just on a lesser note i think it's fun that suki has the whole headcanon of earth-kingdom-but-blue-eyes, possibly water tribe descended thing + fire-nation-with-grey-eyes, ty lee being possibly air nomad descended. "i may be a warrior, but i'm also a girl" applying to them both.

i like how duty and pride plays a big part in both of their characters, and the potential of ty lee reworking and reframing what this truly means to her through training with suki... i like the idea them being devoted to each other the way a knight is devoted to a princess as a subversion of the clouded, duty-and-fear driven dynamic of ty lee and azula's childhood dynamic, the way a leader is devoted to her people and therefore how this love is returned by suki, how it equalised through their devotion to each other through simple friendship. if suki is perhaps doomed or maybe just destined to always be seperate and Other, how ty lee is now able to stand WITH her. i'd like to maybe see a situation where suki maybe steps DOWN as leader and what she would do other than being this role that is such a big part of her, how she'll never stop BEING a kyoshi warrior but how she's also just a teenage girl who needs time to heal TOO.... well. in conclusion. Yuri wins forever.

future edit: if anyone wants additional reading this as well >:)

#asks #crawls out of the deep dark treacherous dungeon. do NOT go in there guys...#i also think it'd be really funny if they went on a double date with zukka which would make sokka just the most uncomfortable he's ever #been in his life. really funny to me. plus ty lee and zuko being childhood friends is very important to me #as well as sokka and suki bestieism regardless of any pairing they're in or whatever #he doesn't hate that he's on a double date with her he's just deeply scared of ty lee. of course #atla #tysuki #☆#this also is kind of slightly autistic suki realness which to be honest. Slayed #ohhhh all these bitches are autismic ..#also pink goes with green ☝️#<- very important #anyway what id liek to see is like a 30k thing that's like Guide to being s kyoshi warrior #rule 1 don't kiss the leader.#jokes. but then it's just suki and the girls teaching and absorbing her into the group .. would be cute ..

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